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T's a story about a squad of foot soldiers caught in the Battle of the Bulge. They are youngsters, thrown into the battle, trapped behind enemy lines in the freezing Ardennes, trying to survive. Some of them will.

It's a good place, I think to tell my family story about the Bulge. My uncle was a foot soldier in the battle. He was stuck in a fox hole with an Italian POW who agreed to fight with the American forces. A shell landed right on them, blowing my uncle out of the foxhole, ripping off all his clothes. When a jeep showed up, the driver wanted to leave my uncle's body, but the man he was in insisted he not be left behind. My uncle's corpse was strapped to the front of the jeep like a shot deer, taken back to field headquarters, and dumped in the tent with the other dead soldiers, and soon my grandparents get their 'deeply regret' telegram. Some time later, a doctor, walking through the tent, thought he saw my uncle breathing, and revived him from the hypothermia he was in. He spent a few years in a wheelchair, and eventually made a full recovery. He died about fifteen year ago.

Maybe it's that connection that makes this talky drama, shot in a freezing Utah winter, speak to me. Maybe it's the cast, including Peter Berg, Arye Gross, Kevin Dillon, Ethan Hawke, Gary Sinise (in his screen debut), and Frank Whaley. Maybe it's the sere, white cinematography of Tom Richmond. Whatever it is, it's a very worthwhile movie to watch on Memorial Day.

Adapted from the novel by William Wharton , with interesting script by director Keith Gordon himself, providing an absorving and stylised rendition , while acting is uniformly over-the-top and exploring issues of faith and morality about US and German soldiers, as both sides are determined to survive . It takes place in the Ardennes Forest , near the French-German enemy-line border , in December 1944 . The end of WWII approaches and it's Christmastime when six of the remaining members of a 12-member squad are sent on a perilous mission , as they settle at an abandoned , deserted cabin in order to report on enemy movements, but short of rations decide to explore all around . The American Intelligence Squad locates a strange German platoon stalking here and there . The German foes remain elusive , and after making contact with these young , nervous young men , the enemy soldiers prove strangely unwilling to attack and wishing to surrender rather than die in Germany's final war offensive, but then things go wrong.

A thrilling wartime movie set in 1944 France, in the Ardennes forest region, at an isolated location with a handful of GIs and a band of of combat-weary Germans , displaying an intelligent story , emotion , solid storyline , enjoyable message and good feeling . A sensitive and thought-provoking movie in which a sense of anquish filtrates throughout the tale , moving inexorably towards spiritual reckoning and lethal confrontation . A worthwhile seeing psychological drama pits the message of peace against the stupidity of war . Packing a top-notch cast wiith full of future big stars and notorious secondaries , including as follows : Ethan Hawke , Gary Sinese , Kevin Dillon , Peter Berg , Frank Whaley , Ayrie Gross , John C. McGinley , David Jensen , Larry Joshua , Rachel Griffin who married director Keith Gordon , among others , all off them give nice interpretations .

Colorful cinematography by Tom Richmond , shot in a dreamy surreal style , as the setting is somewhat reminiscent of a fairytale . As well as moving and touching musical score by Mark Isham . This thoughtful motion picture was compellingly written/directd by Keith Gordon . He's a good actor and filmmaker. Appeared with Kevin Bacon in Off-Broadway theater when they were both starting out as actors. Standing out his characters in Brian De Palma's Home Movies , Back to School (1986) , John Carpenter's Christine , Charles Shyer's I Love Trouble . He quit acting to become a director. As he made the following ones : Mother Night (1996), Walking the dead , The singing detective , The chocolate war and several episodes of famous TV series as Nurse Jackie , The Leftovers , Dexter , The Returned , Masters of Sex , Strain , The Bridge , Homeland , Legion , Fargo , Better Call Saul , among others . Rating : 7/10. Above average. Well worth watching. Essential and indispensable seeing for WWII lovers.

This movie was on Bravo last night but was terribly edited so I stopped watching and stuck my video taped copy into the VCR. This movie truly grew on me over time. I had planned to see it in the theater in, I think 1993, when it was released but it was in theaters for such a brief time that I lost my opportunity. I'm very happy to see that other posters here were also profoundly affected by this movie. The first time I'd seen it I was dumbstruck and truly didn't know what to make of it. Like many, I'd been fed a steady diet of WW2 movies with John Wayne, William Holden, Richard Widmark, and the like. They were all of a jingostic testosterone bent and featured stirring musical scores, minimal blood, and happy endings, as in all the Germans/Japanese die. This was the first WW2 movie I'd ever seen that dispensed with all that crap and gave you a sense of how war makes victims of everybody, sparing no one it's violent assault on our sanity. For this Keith Gordon/William Wharton, Mike Nichols/Joseph Heller, Kurt Vonnegaut, James Jones, Norman Mailer, John Hersey should all be praised for their courage to discard ideological dogma and poignantly lament our violated humanity. They may have, dare I say, stepped upon an enlightend plain where even Steven Spielberg has yet to trod. His movies are remarkable presentations of events, but do not explore any issues that might touch upon this theme of the individual, powerless, human suffering in war time. They are far more traditional morality plays. In short this movie makes you truly feel sorrow for these dead, good intentioned German (Nazi) Soldiers who wanted nothing more than to end their misery as fodder in der Fuherer's army. I was struck By the scene in which Will Knott stares into the eyes of the German officer who's face betrays a million nightmarish images of the Russian front and perhaps some horrible deeds for which he has paid a dear price in guilt worthy of Macbeth. This was one of many scenes which conveyed so much with out a single line of script. Just the faces of the experience guiding the viewer. Mark Ishams fantastic musical score helped quite a bit to. For those who hated this movie, I'm not sure what to say. If your looking for a very heavy-handed war movie this is not for you. If, however, you appreciate the deft and delicate hand in conveying a powerful message and making a powerful statement, than you will be richly rewarded by a movie you will never forget.

It is worth noting that Keith Gordon (director) met with William Wharton (book author and war veteran) on several occasions and was left with the impression that the 'story' Wharton told is true. Neither author or director could use the 'based on a true story' epitaph simply because the events are completely unverifiable; but reading the book -- and watching the film to a certain degree -- does give a sense that these events did occur.

Knowing that the film is a reasonably accurate portrayal of real events -- William Wharton was said to be impressed by the final cut -- makes the events portrayed in the film even more moving. It also explains why the director chose to focus on certain scenes to keep the story flowing, it was as if he wanted to commit the 'story' to film before it was forgotten.

Having said that, there are touches of directorial brilliance and subtlety in this bleak and wintry tale. For example, the panning shot of the squad of soldiers walking through the forest which finishes with the still picture of a frozen hand -- if you even notice it -- is unforgettable.

These were true events according to the author; it is worth keeping that in mind when you watch the film.

"A Midnight Clear" is a film that reminds me of the wonderful French film, "Joyeaux Noel". However, instead of being set during WWI, this American film is set just before the Battle of the Bulge in WWII. Both occur at Christmas time...and both involve a strange sort of cessation of hostilities.

The story is about a tiny reconnaissance group of American soldiers. They have the thankless task of scouting ahead of the rest of the army...and not surprisingly many in their small unit have already been killed. There are two main plots that result. First, they are discovered by a group of German soldiers who do not attack but instead wish to surrender. But, in order to prevent the SS back home from taking retribution against them for not fighting, they propose to make it look like they surrendered only after a horrible fire fight. Sadly, it does NOT go down as they'd planned. Second, after this, when the Major meets up with them, this commanding officer mostly screams at them and threatens them...and leaves them back at their forward base. When the German offensive begins, they're soon stuck behind enemy lines and they have to work hard to find their way back to the Allied lines.

Despite some similarities to "Joyeaux Noel", it is different enough and somber enough to be a different film viewing experience. For the most part, it's just the story of a few men trying to survive...and the thankless tasks they've been given. Well made and worth seeing.